This afternoon, Wednesday, September 21, Hurricane Rita graduated to Category 5 as it churned westward into the Gulf of Mexico. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for Galveston, Texas, and let's hope and pray more people decide to err on the side of caution than did those in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Listened to a discussion by a meteorologist from Accu-Weather this p.m., and he predicts (as of this writing) the storm will make landfall about 60 miles west of Galveston. That would still make it a very serious storm, but would at least spare Galveston and Houston from bearing the brunt of a direct hit. Water temps in the Gulf are around 90 degrees, which is apparently ideal for percolating monster storms.
Hang on everybody, hurricane season doesn't die down until the end of November!
In a kind of weird twist (bad pun), the Space Center in Houston is shutting down due to Rita, and Ground Control for the International Space Station now resides in Russia. Haven't heard whether that agreement also covers the Astros, Texans, and Rockets!
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